Pliers or pipe-tongs.



G. L. HOLT. PLIERS OR PIPE TONGS. APPLICATION FILED nmzs, 1909.

957,560,, Patented May 10, 1910.

ANDREW B GMMM comnormumocmmzks. wnsmucwu. \ZC.

UNFFFZ s'rarss GARDNER L.

HOLT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

FLIERS 0R PIPE-TONGS.

Application filed February 23, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARDNER L. HOLT, of the city and county of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pliers or Pipe-Tongs, which improvements are described in the following specification and are illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that kind of pliers or pipe tongs in which a pair of lever handles having jaws are so pivoted together by means of a stud or fulcrum pin working in two 'or more sockets, joined by a slot, that, according to the size of the object to which the tool is to be applied, the jaws may be adjusted, within the limits determined by the extreme sockets, by sliding the handles edgewise with reference to each other, and without removing them from mutual contact during such adjustment. in tools of this kind, as heretofore constructed, the shifting fulcrum between the lever handles. being in the form of a stud which is supported at one end and is free at the other end, and being consequently subjected to a bending and shearing stress from the operation of the lever handles which it holds together, often becomes loosened in its seat, untrue, irregularly worn, inoperative and necessary to be replaced; and this difliculty is aggravated when either of the jawcarrying levers, wide open, is used as a handle or cross lever in rotating the other such lever as a screwdriver or other turning tool.

It is the object of my invention to obviate these disadvantages by uniting the lever handles of such tools in a new and superior manner. To accomplish this object I make use of a mortised or female jaw handle, a pivotal stud, which is of peculiar form and is terminally seated in both cheeks of such mortised jaw handle, and a sliding or male jaw handle, which works in such mortised handle, and is provided with a lateral reinforcement, and with inclosed and intercommunicating sockets as bearings for said stud.

In said drawings, and which illustrate the best manner in which 1 have contemplated applying the principles of my invention, Figure 1 is a side view of a pair of pliers or pipe tongs, constructed in accordance with those principles. Figs. 2 and 3 are edge views of the mortised and the sliding jawcarrying lever handles respectively. Fi a Specification of Letters Patent.

Eateiited May 46, 1316.

Serial No. 479,451.

is a partial side view of the mortised lever handle, and Fig- 5 is a transversescction on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

In these views the numeral 1 denotes a jaw which is carried by a shank or lever handle 2, having a slot or mortise '7 between the two checks 8. This handle may be sharpened at the free end 20 to serve as a screwdriver or other rotary tool. The numeral 1 denotes a similar aw which is carried by a shank or lever handle 2, inserted through slot 7. These jaws are provided respectively with opposing teeth 3 and 3, biting surfaces 4: and 4t, and wire-cutting or side blades 5 and 5, all of an obvious or usual construction and arrangement; while the lever handles are pinned together in changeable positions by stud 6. This stud is of uniform cross-section, and of the incompletely cylindrical form which is shown in the end view of the same in Fig. 1. is seated in an accurately fitting hole 9 in cheek 8. The same stud has two fiat terminal heads 10 and 11, countersunk in cheeks 8 respectively, for holding the stud immovably in the position shown, head 10 being formed integrally with the described body of stud 6, and head 11 being separably united with that stud by a screw stem 12, which occupies an axial screw-hole therein. The sliding lever handle 2 is perforated by two stud-holes or sockets, 13 and 1 1, which are adapted to serve as alternative bearings for stud 6, and are connected by a narrow slot 15, through which that stud can be transferred edgewise from one socket to the other in the adjusting of the tool for large or small work.

In the assembling of the tool, the sliding lever handle "2, after being inserted in slot- 7, is reinforced with a strip of metal 16, which is united therewith by tongue and groove, 17 and 18, which are of uniform cross-section, and by rivets 19, as shown in Fig. 5.

In the operation of my invention, the tool is adjusted to engage work of the smallest size by bringing stud 6 into slot 14:, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1; and is adjusted for work of the largest size within its capacity by slipping that stud edgewise through slot 15 to socket 13, after first positioning the member 2 in the position shown by dotted lines in the same figure. It is obvious that as the handles are free to turn on the stud 6,

Each end of this stud V the said shifting of the members may take place without the necessity of adjusting or loosening the said stud.

From the described construction of my invention it results that the alternative studholes or sockets, 13 and 1a, and the connecting slot 15 between them, are wholly shut in between the checks 8 of the mortised jawhandle, and are thus protected from dirt and accidental obstruction and injury; that all effort of the sliding jaw-handle 2 to separate laterally from either of said cheeks of the mortised aW-handle, is checked by contact with the other of those cheeks; that no such separating effort is expended upon either head of the pivotal stud; that the latter, being fully supported at each end, is neither bent out of shape nor broken, when used as a fulcrum; that the side cutters 5 and 5 ali ays register and out true; and that in general the above proposed object of the invention is fully accomplished.

I claim 1. An article of the class described comprising a pair of pivoted lever handles, one of said handles provided with a longitudinal slot, said slotted handle having opposite cheeks and alining perforations formed therethrough, a flattened pivotal stud accurately fitting and positioned in said perforations, the other of said handles provided with a transverse slot of awidth equal to the flattened portionof said stud and having opposite enlarged end openings, said latter handle arranged between the checks of said slotted handle and the pivotal studjournaled in said slot, flat terminal heads provided 1 a I t l 1 upon the opposite ends of said stud, the exterior faces of said cheeks having countersunk openings concentrically-arranged with respect to said perforations for receiving said heads, one of said heads being removable, screW-threaded means for retaining said removable head upon an end of the stud and the stud positioned within said perforations, and removable means secured to said transversely-slotted handle, said means being adapted to permit the movement of said handle through the longitudinal slot of the other handle upon the removal of said stud.

2. In combination with a lever handle adapted to be inserted through the slot of a cooperating handle, of a longitudinal tongue upon one side of said first-named handle, a reinforcing strip having a longitudinal groove the entire length thereof adapted to receive said tongue, said tongue and groove being of uniform crosssection, means provided through said handle and strip for se curing the same together.

In combination with a wrench handle adapted to be inserted through the slot of a cooperating handle, of a. longitudinal tongue upon one side of said firstnamed handle, a reinforcing strip fitted to said tongue and handle, said strip being removable and adapted to permit the passage of said tongue-carrying handle through the slot of the other handle.

HENRY T. HOLT, W. D. MORGAN. 

